Even at full strength the Australian batting in recent years has shown palpable signs of weakness when the ball either swings or spins. Pakistan attacked a severely weakened Australian line-up utilising both forms of kryptonite, unveiling swing with the old ball and finger spin to dismantle their first innings. Against this twin assault Tim Paine's tyros were powerless to halt Pakistan's progress but at least in the second innings they displayed thoughtfulness and determination along with resolute defence to clinch a draw. The leader of their resistance was the previously leaden-footed Usman Khawaja. The elegant left-hander displayed the benefit of a well-planned re-think of his approach to facing spin bowling and an elevation to the top of the order. The most productive batting of the Test match came against the new ball where the opening partnerships prospered.

Spin misery in Dubai too
In fact, there was a period in Australia's first innings where the team could have answered with a confident rejoinder; "What weakness against spin?" as they cruised to 142 without loss. However at that point the Australian batting suffered another all-too-familiar collapse, losing ten wickets for a paltry sixty runs. This Lehmann brothers-like collapse was precipitated by the off-spin of debutant Bilal Asif, a taller version of the highly successful Muttiah Muralitharan form of finger-spin, involving a lot of wrist work. Asif's deceptive flight and bounce bamboozled the Australian left-handers and opened the door for the highly efficient medium-pacer Mohammad Abbas to barnstorm the lower order with his relentlessly accurate swing bowling.